The space savers are technically illegal as it is illegal to drive with two different sized tyres on the same axle. You would have been better off throwing your space saver over the bridge into the Avon gorge, then Greenflag would have no choice but to recover your vehicle. This is an unusual tale about Greenflag, most people have a moan because they want to take your vehicle to your destination and not fix it. The guy has to be commended for his honesty as they get paid far more for recovery than they would to change a wheel.
Im pretty sure I read somewhere that you coud tow with a spacesaver if stuck between a rock and a hard place. However the tyres should be swapperd round so that the space saver is on the front. It might have been on one of those Q&A things in the CC mag or practical caravan
Jon
I certainly would not have it on the front if the front are the drive wheels.
So you would put it on the back which takes all the weight then?
The back may have the weight, although given the weight of the engine and gearbox in the front, then I doubt the noseweight and luggage in the boot is much more. The front wheels have a lot more load on them and more importantly, if a rear tyre goes you should be able to regain control quickly, if a front tyre lets go suddenly, the steering wheel will be torn from your hands (with the potential for broken fingers) and you will swerve violently to one side.
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You certainly can't put the spacesaver on the rear wheel with all the weight, but if your car is front wheel drive you shouldn't use it on there either.
Maybe on the front of a rear wheel drive car, but really they are neither use nor ornament.
I would never use one on the front for the reason I stated above. A catastrophic failure of the front tyre is almost certainly going to result in a collision.
The noseweight of your car should always be greater than the noseweight of your caravan and one should not be over loading the back of the car as this affects the noseweight parameters on the tow hitch itself as the weight in the rear of the car lifts the front of the car making the car unsafe to drive at speed. Spacesaver should always be on the rear although preferably it should be at the bottom of the river Avon.
cheers guys for all your replies, a proper spare is a definate must have from now on. all we have to do now is find one as vauxhall are about as much use as a chocolate teapot
This topic has confirmed one thing for me. That I was right to change my 7-seater with the "squirty stuff" for the same model, but 5-seater with a full sized and properly stowed spare wheel. I used to carry a full sized spare in the boot of the 7-seater, but it was always in the way; didn't look much on the car, but used up a heck of a lot of space in the boot.
By the way, for those who continue using the squirty stuff, the tin of gunge for my vehicle had a shelf life of 4 years, and would have cost around £40 to renew. About the same price of a standard steel wheel, actually.
You can get a can of Holts Tyre Weld for about a tenner. But that would be as much use as a space saver in the River Avon too. I carried one round for years after having my old car converted to LPG and having the spare wheel well full of gas tank. The one occasion I needed it it turned out the valve had broken off the wheel rather than a puncture so was no good anyway. I ended up walking a 3 mile round trip after dark, in the snow to get my spare wheel from the shed. Needless to say I found room in the boot for it afterwards.